As we approach the 2012 proxy season - the months of March, April, and May when about 70% of public companies file their proxies for this year's shareholder meeting - we provide an update on a number of significant developments. Over the past few months, a series of changes in proxy adviser policy, regulatory timelines, media coverage, and the political landscape are converging to ensure another controversial year for equity compensation.
The headlines will focus on the topic of "executive compensation" but in fact many of the issues are driven by equity compensation and will have a direct impact on companies' equity compensation granting practices in 2012.
On February 2 at 10:00 AM PST, I will be hosting a webinar covering various issues related to executive compensation, including:
- Why the second year of "say on pay" may pose more problems for companies than the first year, and how #1 issue in investors' minds is not executive pay - it's equity compensation
- How a new focus on pay-for-performance "alignment" for the CEO - a calculation driven by, and distorted by, equity compensation valuation - will force some companies to redesign their plans
- Why the headlines about "CEO pay cuts" and "record CEO pay" are rooted in misunderstanding of equity compensation values and provisions and will require proactive communication to investors...and employees
- Why the carefully constructed peer group you use for compensation comparisons may have just become irrelevant for equity compensation purposes
- How the SEC's delay in implementing the Dodd-Frank "CEO Pay Ratio" and "CEO Pay for Performance" rules has led the private sector to forge ahead with the concepts
- Why companies will need to develop more sophisticated grant allocation methods and systems to balance increasing pressure on dilution and the growing complexity of plan design
